Chapter 18 #3
“Must be some favor,” Surgath said, walking around the room, picking up corpses, inspecting them, and throwing them back on the floor, “that you had to kill so many.”
Mortandagh followed the demon in a circle, both their feet splashing in the blood.
“Desperate times call for demonic measures.”
“So name it. Name your request, and I shall take care of the rest,” Surgath said.
“I am in need of a doll,” Mortandagh said.
* * *
Mortandagh continued to ignore the two screaming students that he had imprisoned. The reason they were the only two who survived was because he had some plans for them still.
He walked out of the prison cell with the demon gone, the dead bodies gone, every ounce of blood gleaned from the place, holding a doll of Elias Solwyn.
He had tried to thrall Elias Solwyn from afar several times, but because Elias was the champion of Sol, Mortandagh had always failed.
It was also of no help that Elias usually stayed at Umbrveyl, which was also a magically protected place, or his grandfather’s manor.
Lately, the last report he had gotten was that Elias was taken to the Doldrum Isles, and even here traditional magic failed, but wherever traditional magic failed, demonic magic, warlockry, came into play, and so Mortandagh was certain that this demon of hell, Surgath, had provided him with an effective doll with which to control Elias, but it had come at such a great cost. He had taken in his payment every single corpse and all of their blood and their souls.
The irony had hit Mortandagh like bricks.
These people had worshiped Sol all their lives, only for their souls to end in a barter struck with a demon of Hell.
He stood outside the prison, looking at the lifelike doll, wondering about Hell, which god ruled over it.
It could not be Sol, for he distinguished himself from all things dark.
Could it be that Aeterna, the Goddess of Death, was also the goddess of Hell?
In all the records, there had never been an explicit lord of Hell’s name.
Just that Hell was a realm ruled over by demons and dukes who called flame their home.
Mortandagh stowed the doll away and walked up to Edda and the rest of the commanders of his Deathless.
“Report to me now,” he said. He had been using them more and more now that Cassian was gone. “What is the latest update?”
Edda, who had a network of reporters as well as spies, gave him the latest report: that the prime minister was now at the Doldrum Court, that Barrowhane was the new Vanguard chief, and that both Lesya and Elias were to be held prisoner at the Doldrum Isles.
“And what about Eldric?” asked Mortandagh. “Where is he?”
“He is still at the Doldrum Isles,” she said.
“Then here’s to two birds with one stone,” Mortandagh said, and revealed Elias’s doll. “Are the troops ready?” he asked.
“Yes, my lord,” Edda said with a brief nod.
“Then we attack the Doldrum Isles,” Mortandagh said. “Our attack will force their hand and make them retreat to Umbrveyl, where the last battle of this war shall be fought. But before I make them retreat, I shall break them.”
His troops gathered in front of him in the town square, robed, masked men, all answering to him alone.
Mortandagh looked at the doll of Elias Solwyn and bid him command.
He could feel the doll coming to life, growing hotter in his hand.
He stowed it away. With a smile, he looked up at the rest of his Deathless and said, “We march upon Doldrum.”
* * *
The day had extracted a great price from him.
He had to massacre so many men. Not only that, he had absorbed flames at the manor, and now as Mortandagh flew over the Doldrum Isles, in the cover of the storm clouds, he let go all that he had absorbed in the form of thunder and lightning, and following suit, his Deathless also did the same, sending lightning hurtling through the storm toward the fortress.
The severity of these strikes broke through the anti-magic shield that preserved this place and shattered the tower, making it topple, and destroyed the fort.
This was his plan: to force their retreat toward Umbrveyl, their last stronghold.
“Rescue my followers from down there,” he instructed, “and kill all who resist you.”
Mortandagh had wanted to attack this place several times through the years, but never had he assembled such a great army that could allow him to achieve his ambition. They hung with him in the air, their tattered robes flailing in the wind, outnumbering the soldiers below.
In the havoc, Mortandagh descended upon the courtyard and began his search for Lesya. His Deathless stormed both buildings, killing those who resisted.
Inside Mortandagh’s pocket, the doll grew hot. Mortandagh could see what Elias could. Mortandagh could influence Elias’s will. Elias was in a cell, and his grandfather was there as well, seemingly trying to protect his grandson from the attack.
Mortandagh grinned, and commanded Elias’s doll to do the unthinkable.